Natural disasters set records around the world in 2017 — these were the worst

People walk next to a gas station flooded and damaged by the impact of Hurricane Maria, which hit the eastern region of the island, in Humacao, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, September 20, 2017.Carlos Giusti/AP

People around the world recorded record-breaking devastation, much of it caused by higher-than-usual temperatures on land and at sea. Climate experts say that in a warming world, these fatal events will continue to worsen. A November 2017 report released by the Trump Administration cautioned that "extreme climate events" like heavy rainfall, extreme heatwaves, wildfires, and sea-level rise will all get more severe around the globe, and that some of these events could result in abrupt, irreversible changes to the climate as we know it.

Here's a look at some of the deadly power Mother Nature wielded in 2017:

A trio of super-strong hurricanes pummeled the Caribbean and US Gulf Coast, with each storm causing tens of billions of dollars in damage.

Ruby Rodriguez, 8, looks back at her mother as she wades across the San Lorenzo Morovis river on Sept 27, 2017. The bridge there was swept away by Hurricane Maria.Gerald Herbert/AP

Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria swept through the Atlantic in August and September, leaving a trail of useless power lines, drowned homes, and deadly destruction in their wake.

The National Hurricane Center called it an "extremely active" year for hurricanes: at least seven storms had wind speeds upwards of 74 miles per hour.

About a third of Puerto Rican residents are still without power three months after Hurricane Maria touched down on the island. Maria alone is projected to cost $95 billion in damage.

And while the official death toll in Puerto Rico stands at 64 dead, the governor there is calling for a review of the numbers, after The New York Times reported that unusually high death counts after the storm were not included in the official numbers, and the actual death toll may be over 1,000 people.

At least 82 people died when Harvey hit land. Most of them perished while trying to escape the floodwaters.

The watery problem was only made worse when a chemical plant lost power, and the warming combustibles went up in flames in multiple explosions. Thick black smoke wafted up from the chemical fires that broke out at the Arkema SA plant in Crosby, Texas.

Police officers, fire fighters, and emergency workers maintained a 1.5-mile evacuation perimeter around the plant, and are now suing the French chemical giant for $1 million. Several had to be taken to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

Hurricane Irma hit Florida hard. Growers are worried about the long-term effects on their crops.

US Sentor Bill Nelson, left, speaks with Vic Story as he tours the Story Grove orange grove where large numbers of oranges sat on the ground in the wake of Hurricane Irma.Brian Blanco/Getty Images

The category 5 storm, one of the strongest in Atlantic hurricane history, lashed the southern and western Caribbean before cruising to Cuba and the Bahamas and finally reaching Florida on Sept 10 as a Category 4 storm.

The September 19 earthquake devastated a region used to a bit of rumbling. Mexico sits at the intersection of three massive tectonic plates and is one of the most seismically active countries in the world.

The monsoon rains also crippled people fleeing religious persecution in nearby Myanmar. The extra water made travel perilous for the nearly 400,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees who fled into Bangladesh. The United Nations calls the ongoing situation in Myanmar a 'textbook example' of ethnic cleansing.

California spent much of the fall in flames.

A Cal Fire firefighter races to move a truck before it's overrun at the Rocky Fire in Lake County.Max Whittaker/AP

Just weeks later, the hills near Los Angeles broke out in flames. Highways were transformed into a hot hellscape, fueled by dry, hot weather and powerful Santa Ana winds.

Farm fields were devastated: worried avocado growers huddled for an emergency meeting in late December, and lemon growers told the New York Times that the fires will be a "game changer" for business. In Napa, winemakers are still tallying the damage to their burnt vines.

The state spent $505 million fighting wildfires in 2017, more than ten times what it spent on blazes 20 years ago.

A Chinese village was utterly destroyed in a June landslide, but the death toll there is still a mystery.

Rescuers search for survivors at the accident site after a landslide at Xinmo village on June 26, 2017 in Maoxian County, China. The landslide occurred early on Saturday, with more than 100 people still missing on Sunday morning.VCG/Getty Images

Many outlets reported that more than 100 had gone missing and were feared dead, trapped under the rubble, but The New York Times reported that officials only tallied 15 bodies.

Another slippery landslide in Sierra Leone killed hundreds of people.

Volunteers handle a coffin during a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Freetown, Sierra Leone on Aug 17, 2017.Associated Press/Manika Kamara

Heavy rains and flooding in the region pushed rivers of mud downhill. The government put the official death toll at nearly 500. But many outlets reported higher tallies: Al Jazeera said more than 1,000 were buried and killed in the slides.

Construction on the hillsides of Sierra Leone around the capital of Freetown is unregulated, and many homes weren't ready for the rains.

Another mudslide in Colombia, one of the worst disasters in the country's recent history, killed more than 250 people in April.

In a spate of icier slides, dozens were killed in a series of avalanches on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Pakistani volunteers and army soldiers carry a body of a villager killed in an avalanche in Upper Chitral in Pakistan, Monday, Feb. 6, 2017.Associated Press/Gul Hamaad Farooqi